Urban Renewal

Downtown Birmingham is a decent size urban setting, and thankfully, we've recently been seeing some renewal. This is a picture of Park Place in Downtown. This is a mixed-income, partially subsidized apartment community. It is a pretty large complex to be in an urban area, and their waiting list has been full for a couple of years. They also have an urban garden right across the street. The Jones Valley Urban Farm- Gardens of Park Place, is an urban farm located downtown where they have a farmers market and residents of Park Place can come and plant a plot and grow healthy, hearty food for themselves and their neighbors. There is also a good amount of age diversity in Park Place. There's everything from infants to elderly, children, teens, young adults, and married couples. Last, there are also many engagements between market rate renters and low income renters at Park Place due to the vast diversity in incomes between neighbors. All of these components help to provide some urban renewal to Birmingham's downtown.

Comparing New Urbanist Communities

In comparing Park Place to Crestline, there are only a few components to compare because these two places are so different. Park Place is in an urban area in comparison to Crestline which is more of a suburban area. Both have new urbanist designs but in different aspects. To me, Park Place is more of a neighborhood than a community. It has the community feel to it, but not all the community components. Park Place is a mixed-income partially subsidized apartment neighborhood in an urban setting. It has no civic buildings, and no retail. Crestline is a community with a City Hall, Fire Department, Police Department, public library, and main street retail. Neither of the two, Park Place or Crestline, are ethnically diverse. Crestline is not very economically diverse either. Essentially, Park Place is an urban Apartment complex designed from New Urbanist principles. Crestline is a suburban community mostly made up of single family homes but also includes a "city center" with retail and civic buildings. Both have New Urbanist principles implemented, but are still two very different places.

Green Initiatives

Green Initiatives are becoming more and more common in our community, state, nation, and world. There are great examples all over the Birmingham Metro-Area. Jeremy Erdreich, a local architect, has Green in mind with every job he takes on. He's responsible for the renewal of the 2nd Avenue area. This photograph shows a portion of 2nd Avenue with a number of different places in this building. To the far right is Erdreich Architects. The store with the tree in front is Faith Skate Supply, a supply center for skaters and skateboarders. The door/window front in the very middle of the picture is actually Jeremy Erdreich's home. He built an apartment within this former commercial space. He used the existing building and also used recycled materials to create his home. As you walk past his window front it appears as though this space is a art gallery or something of that sort. Jeremy also built his parents a home on 2nd Avenue, which I believe has the first "green roof" downtown. Their roof has a garden on it which helps to reduce heating and cooling costs, create fresh air, and provides a destination for storm water. Downtown also has the Max and Dart buses which technically are Green Initiatives to get more cars off the road and to lower emissions. But I think this is where we are falling short. Once we get the transportation situation in Birmingham figured out, we'll be very Green.

2nd Avenue's Third Places

Downtown, in the Second Avenue and Park Place area, there are a number of Third Places for people to interact with their neighbors. This photograph shows one for example, the YMCA. This is a place for children and young teens to learn and play with each other. It is less than a full block from the majority of the Park Place residences and there is also a baseball field and basketball court directly across the street from the facility. Also directly across the street from the YMCA is the Jones Valley Urban Farm- Gardens of Park Place. This urban garden has a number of plots that belong to residents of Park Place and is a great place for neighbors to interact with each other. Second Avenue has a number of Third Places as well. Faith Skate Supply is located next door to Erdreich Architects. Faith is a place for the skater crowd to have something of a hub downtown, a kind of headquarters. Going down the block there's a few more. Urban Standard is four doors down from Erdreich Architects. Urban Standard is a coffee shop and bakery, and a great place for nearby residents to come and get a cup of coffee, enjoy a book or newspaper and hopefully make some new friends. Just past Urban Standard, you'll find a German bar/club and Rogue Tavern, which is a restaurant and bar. These are a few of the Third Places we passed on our Park Place/2nd Avenue adventure.